Harry Potter and the Mistress of Death
by PotterBoy90
Summary: Voldemort breaks Harry's body beyond repair and kills him in the final battle, but Harry has a choice to keep fighting, or to join his friends and family in death. Is there even anyone left alive worth fighting for? AU one-shot, Harry/Tonks.


_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except for the plot bunny. Thank you to the wonderful J.K. Rowling for created this world and these characters for me to play with._

* * *

I looked down upon my battered, bloody, and broken body thinking over how exactly this happened. Voldemort had beaten me, but still I ended up on top. Was it all worth it? The fact was almost everyone was dead, or would be soon. I should be dead; in fact I had died, as had my body. Perhaps we should go back to the beginning, or the beginning of the end at the very least.

* * *

I had always thought Death was a fickle bitch; I had pictured an older man in black robes taking us beyond what any of us could imagine. We'd either be directed up the ladder towards the light or perhaps down the stairs into the pits of hell to burn for eternity. It's not really something I wanted to go through, at least not for a long time.

It's not that I was afraid of death, that's far from true. The fact of the matter is that I always had things, people, to live for. At this moment in time I didn't. I had watched all my closest friends die around me, and at the moment death sounded like the comforting embrace from a long lost lover.

"Go ahead then, Voldemort. You've had your fun. I've sat here watching as my friends were cut down in fights all around me. You've won, end it!" I yelled, still immobilized against a part of a wall that hadn't yet fallen.

"Oh I will kill you, Potter, but it won't be the swift release you hope for." Voldemort smiled cruelly at me. "Perfringo!" he yelled as I felt the bones in my legs shatter to pieces. I barely held back a scream, biting through my lower lip.

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere now," Voldemort said, and I felt the bindings holding me in place release. I fell to the ground, less than a foot, but my legs couldn't hold me and I dropped to the ground. This time I did scream as I felt bone fragments pierce through my legs.

I couldn't do anything but gasp for breath while trying to think through the pain, even then Voldemort wouldn't have mercy and I felt my ribs crack. Suddenly I couldn't draw any breaths, and the little air I did get pained me nearly as much as my lung being punctured. How I was still conscious at this time was miraculous. Tragic, but miraculous; like I said, Death is a fickle bitch. I would have done anything to have passed out, or even died at this point. Before this point would have been nicer, though.

"Fuck you, Tom," was as much as I could get out before Voldemort had hit me with cutting curses across my body, the last slicing my neck. I bled out not a minute later.

Not a second had passed before I was standing in a large, white expanse. There were no walls around me, and not even a ceiling above me, not to mention a floor below me. It was odd, but it felt decidedly normal. I knew I had died, but for some reason I didn't feel as I thought I would have. I had expected to be greeted by Ron and Hermione, Ginny, Remus, Dumbledore, Fred, Sirius, Tonks, and my parents. Instead I was standing alone in a white expanse, not quite sure of what to do. I was startled when a sultry voice behind me broke me from my thoughts.

"Welcome, Harry Potter," the feminine voice said.

The sight of the woman surprised me. She looked exactly like Ginny did, but her skin was free of freckles. Her hair was a deeper, blood colored red that matched her painted nails, dress, and heels. I couldn't keep my eyes off her long legs or deep cleavage. She couldn't be Ginny simply because she wouldn't approach me wearing something like that.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I think you know the answer to that already, Harry," the mysterious woman said.

I didn't know what to think.

"Come on, Harry. I know this isn't what you expected, but you know who I am," she said. "I merely took an image more appealing to you."

"Death," I said simply.

"Yes, and I'm here to give you a choice," Death said.

"A choice?" I asked.

"Yes, a choice. Look to your left," she said. I looked and an ornate wooden door appeared before my very eyes. "Through that door you can be free. Free from Voldemort, free from pain, free from obligation. You can finally move on and be at peace. You'll be reunited with your fallen friends; you can even meet your parents, Harry."

I started immediately to walk towards the door.

"Don't take that option so fast, Harry," Death said. I felt her slender fingers wrap around my arm. With surprising strength, she stopped me in my tracks.

"Not everyone you love will be there. Come, look into the window," she said. I let her lead me to what looked like a rounded full body mirror. "Look at what you'd be leaving behind, Harry. You must fully understand."

So I did as she said and looked into the mirror. It showed not my reflection, but the battle I had just been fighting. Charlie and George Weasley were crawling through bodies to get to their mother, who was crying over Ginny's bloodied body.

However, my eyes were taken from them and drawn to the shock of pink hair standing against Voldemort. I couldn't hear what Tonks was saying to him, but I saw her angry expression as she started launching curses at Voldemort. I screamed out as I saw Voldemort flick his wand and Tonks fell to the ground.

"Tonks!" I ran to the door where I thought I would greet her.

"She's not dead, Harry," Death said to me. That stopped me in my tracks and I ran back to the screen. "Voldemort has no intention of killing her, I can tell you that."

I watched as a red beam of light hit Tonks and her body arched up. I could see the scream on her lips and the defeated look in her eyes.

"Not my Nym," I whispered to myself.

"I want to go back," I said.

"As I always knew you would," Death said to me. "But it will not be the same for you, Harry. Never will it be the same."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Look at your body, Harry. Your legs are in shreds, your lungs are pierced through, and you have cuts across all of your body," Death said, looking in the mirror. "I could never fix that for you."

"But how will going back help at all! Why give me a choice if I'll just die again as soon as I reach my body!"

"You will not die, things will just be different," Death said, eyeing the battlefield. "I promise that if you go back, you will kill Voldemort. You will kill him and be reunited with those that are left, but life will forever be different."

"Just send me back then, I have to help her," I said, looking from Death down to where Tonks was lying on the ground, Voldemort torturing her every few seconds.

"So I shall," Death said before snapping, and the room was no more.

Moments later, my eyes opened and I stood. It's funny, I didn't remember Hermione being so near me when I fell to Voldemort's last curse. And I could stand. I felt taller, and stronger than before. I didn't have a wand, but I saw a dagger lying not too far from me. I ran to it and picked it up. I admired the shining silver; just what I had ordered everyone to carry for defense against all of the werewolves I had known would be in the battle.

I hadn't known where exactly to go until I heard the scream behind me. I turned and saw Voldemort. I ran towards him, and screamed.

"Tom!" I yelled as I got to him, and he turned just in time for me to plunge the blade into his chest. I looked into his eyes as I pulled the blade out of him and slit his throat the way mine was slit before I came back. As his body dropped, I saw something that made me forget why I had come back. Lying not five feet away was my body. My battered, broken, bloodied body. I saw the splinters that were made from my legs, the dangerous angles my arms were laying at, and I saw the gash in my neck.

"Ronald!" I heard from behind me.

I looked down at my own body to see hands I didn't recognize and clothing that wasn't mine. Turning around I saw Mrs. Weasley staring at me.

"Your eyes! They're just like Harry's!" Tonks gasped.

"I am Harry," I reply, looking straight into Tonks' eyes, willing her into my mind. I felt her presence in my head and saw memories rush past as she viewed them with me. Gasping she ran to me, letting herself be encircled in my now lanky, freckled arms. I held her close, knowing at this moment that I had made the right decision to come back... "I love you, Nym."

"I love you too, Harry," she replied before kissing me. I let my lips linger on hers as I reveled in being alive.

"Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Both George and Charlie were holding her up. "You're in my son's body. You look like my Ron. What happened? What happened to my son?"

"Let's get back to the Castle and I'll tell you as much as I understand," I promise. Taking Tonks' hand, I led them back to the Castle, where hopefully some life still existed.

* * *

Author's note: Well there we go. I've had this idea in my head for quite a long time, and I'm not sure if I'm fully happy with the way it came out. But it's out, and that's the important part. I got this idea ages ago when I was reading a fantastic story by joe6991, called _Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time_. The overall tone of that story inspired me to want to write something awesome and different than usual.

I'm not sure how well I pulled off the awesome bit, but I'm sure someone will let me know.

Spells used: Perfringo - the bone-shattering hex which blasts a bone (or multiple bones depending on the amount of power put in) into pieces.

Please review and let me know if there's anything I can improve upon! Working without a Beta is making me question myself, but I'm not a consistent enough writer to want to ask someone to read my works for me. Luckily I copy edit for my college newspaper, so I'm used to reading things over multiple times for errors. I can only catch so many things, though.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!


End file.
